Means for mechanically oiling the wheels of tramway and like vehicles



- T.ABBOTT. MEANS FOR MECHANICALLY OILING THE WHEELS 0F TRAII'IWAY ANDLIKE VEHICLES.

APPLICATION FILED OCT, 2, I920- Llfififi. at t d M1323, 19:22.

3 SHEETS-SHEET I.

T. ABBOTT. MEANS FOR MECHANICALLY OILIN'G THE WHEELS 0F TRAMWAY AND LIKEVEHICLES. APPLICATION FILED OCT. 2, 1920.

1,4L16,668, Patented May 23, 1922.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

n a {I T I 51 H H' BET rjt- H E-a- H 1'1' T I T o O I O T o T i o Kai- 4V1 E/VT0/?1 T. ABBOTT. MEANS FOR MECHANICALLY OILING THE WHEELS 0FTRAIVII/VAY AND LIKE VEHICLES.

APPLICATION FILED OCT, 2', I920- 1,41 6,668,, Patented May 23, 1922.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

PATENT oesnca.

TOM ABBOTT, 0F PONT YCLUN, LILANTRISANT, WALES.

MEAN S FOR MECHANICALLY OI LING THE WHEELS 0F TRAMWAY AN D LIKEVEHICLES,

Lemons.

, Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 23, 1922.

Application filed October 2, 1920. Serial No. 414,331.

T 0 all whom. it may concern Be it known that I, TOM ABBOTT, a subjectof the King of Great Britain and Ireland, residing at 30 LlantrisantRoad, Pontyc-lun, Llantrisant, South Vales, have invented new and usefulImprovements in Means for Mechanically Oiling the lVheels of Tramway andlike Vehicles, of which the following is a specification.

The invention consists of improved means for mechanically oiling thewheels of the tramway vehicles that are used in mines and the wheels ofother like vehicles.

The invention has been devised with the object of producing means,fulfilling the above referred to purpose, which can be used withvehicles that are provided with chambered hubs of ordinary construction,that is to say means which will not entail any particular constructionof the parts of the hubs of the wheels of the vehicles. I

The improved means consist of pumps which are arranged at the two sidesof a track for the vehicles and comprise fixed oil wells or tanks, pumpcylinders which are supplied with oil from said wells or tanks, mountedthereon in such manner that they can swivel on fixed axes and arenormally directed toward the vehicles to be oiled,

spring-controlled plungers which reciprocate in said cylinders and areprovided at their front ends with nipples adapted to cooperate with thehubs of the vehicles, and means for returning said swivelling cylindersto their normal positions when the oilin of a pair of wheels has beeneffected.

he invention is illustrated by the accompanying drawings. H

.Fig. l is a part vertical section and partelevationillustrating theinvention, the right half of the figure being in elevation and the lefthalf thereof in. section.

Fig. 2 is a plan of the parts shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 .is .an elevation of one of the oil wells or tanks and partssecured thereto, as seen from the outer side of the well or tank, thepump cylinder and piston being shown in mid-position.

Fig. 1 is a view. corresponding to Fig. 3,v

plungers of the oil pumps and a part of the chambered hub of the wheelof a vehicle, and F 1g. 6 is an end view of said plunger, drawn to thesame scale as Fig. 5.

Referring now to these drawings, 1 are two of the wheels of a tramwayvehicle such as 1s used in mines, and 2 are the chambered hubs of thewheels 1. 3 are rails for said wheels. 4 are housings that engage withscrewed holes 5 formed in the outer walls of the chambered hubs 2 andare provided with projecting bosses 6 of hexagonal shape so that theymay be. readily screwed into the holes 5. 7 are buttons which areconstantly pressed by springs 8 against seatings 9 formed in the centralparts of the outer walls of the chambered hubs 2, and 10 are passagesformed in the housings 4 through which oil can be injected into the hubs2. The above described construction ofchambered hub is one of thosecommonly employedon tramway vehicles used in mines and forms no part ofthe present invention.

11 are tanks or wells, hereinafter referred to as wells, which containthe oil to be used for oiling the vehicles and serve as supports for therails 3. These wells 11, though they may form parts of a single casting,are preferably made separate from one another so that the same wells maybe used with tracks of varying gauge, distance pieces of widthsdiffering according to the gauges of the rails being interposed betweenthe wells and bolt ed to the inner faces of the lower parts thereof. 12are plates fixed to the upper parts of the wells 11, and 13 arecylinders which are mounted on the plates 12 in such manner that theycan swivel on fixed axes. For this purpose the cylinders 13 may beformed with downwardly projecting bosses 14 and the plates 12 with holes15 and the cylinders be secured in position by means of nuts 16 engagingwith the lower parts of said bosses, ball bearings 17 and 18 beinginterposed between the cylinders 13 and the upper. surfaces of theplates 12 and between the uppermost of the nuts 16 and the lower facesof the plates 12. 19 are passages leading from the lower ends of thebosses 14 to the interiors of the cylinders 13, and 20 are dip tubesscrewed into the bosses 1-1 and extending to a short distance from thebottoms of the wells 11. 21 and 22 are automatic valves fitted to thelower ends of the dip tubes 20 1 turned to their normal positions,

either by means of weights 32,

' weights as parts and to the upper ends of the passages 19. 23 arepluiigers fitting the front ends of the cylinders 13, and 24 are springsbearing at their ends against the rear ends of said plungers and therear walls of the cylinders 13. 25 are screws which engage with thecylinders 13 and with grooves'26 formed in the plungers 23, and servenot only as a means for limiting the movement of the plungers but as ameans for preventing same rotating in the cylinders 13. 27 are cavitiesformed in the plungers 23, and 28 are passages leading from the frontends of the cavities 27 to the front ends of the plungers 23. 29 arenon-return valves fitted to the rear ends of the plungers 23. 30 arenipples at the front ends of the plungers 23, which are preferablyformed separate from the plungers and screwed into same. The fronts ofthe plungers 23 are made of a shape appropriate to the particularconstructions of the hubs of the vehiclesto be oiled. When said wheelsare fitted with housings 4 provided with projecting bosses 6 the frontends of the plungers 23 may be made of the shape shown in section inFig. 5 and in front elevation in Fig. 6, that is to say the front endsof the plungers may be formed with project-ions 31 of horseshoe shape.They may however be merely cupped or recessed at their centres, as shownin chain lines in Fig. 5. In either case the projecting parts at thefront ends of the p-lungers 23, surrounding the nipples 30, serve. asguards for protecting the nipples when the plungers are swung back-Wards at the com 'letion of the oiling of a pair of wheels. he cylinders13 are rewhen" displaced therefrom,

securedto wire ropes 33 which in their turn are attached to thecylinders, assshown in Figs. 2 and 3 or by means bf springs 34, as shownin Fig. 4, said normal positions being determined by stops 35. Thesestops 35 may be supported by or formed in one with castings 36 bolted tothe top-s of mal positions by means of the weights 32 as supports forguide pulleys 37 for the ropes 33, and when springs are used in lieu ofto which are attached the relatively fixed ends of said springs. "Thestops 35 preferably consist of plungers slidably mounted in the castings36 and controlled by somewhat stout springs, as this construction ofstop enables the cylinders 13 and plungers 23 to yield when the vehicleis travelling in a backward direction.

Suitable means are provided for ensuring that the hubs 2 of the wheels 1shall be in correct position when passing the oiling app aratus, aresult which may be attained, see

i'gs. 1 and 2 of the drawings, by making the inner faces of the oilwells 11 of the necsprings 8 What I have invented the wells 11, saidcastings serving when the cylinders are returned totheir nor-i describedabove co-operate as Fig. 2. As the wheels of a vehicle travelling on therails 3, in the direction of the arrow a, reach the outer ends of theplungers 23 the hexagonal parts 6 of the housings 4 will contact withthe inner faces of the forward parts of the horseshoe shaped or likeparts 31 surrounding the nipples 30, and the cylinders 13 will commencet0 swivel on their axes of rotation and the nipples 30 will come intocontact with the buttons 7 which will be pressed backwards and compressthe controlling same. When the springs 8 have fully compressed theplungers 23 will in their turn be pressed back,

the non-return valves 29 will be opened, and

oil will be injected into the hubs of the wheels until the cylinders 13move into a position when their axes are at right angles to the rails 3.As the vehicle travels onwards the cylinders 13 will be swung stillfurther on their axes of rotation and the plungers 23 will eventuallybecome disengaged from the projecting parts 6 of the hubs of the wheelsand be returned by the weights 32 or the springs 34 to their normalpositions, in readiness to oil a fresh pair of wheels.

Although the improved means for mechanically oiling the wheels ofvehicles have been described with reference to vehicle wheels which areprovided with the particular construction of chambered hubs illustratedby the accompanying drawings the use of the invention is not necessarilyconfined to wheels fitted with this particular construction of hubs. jand desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is asfollows 1. Means for mechanically oiling the wheels of tramway and likevehicles consisting of pumps arranged at the two sides of a track forthe vehicles and comprising fixed oil wells, pump cylinders suppliedwith oil from said wells, mounted on said wells so as V to swivel onfixed axes and are normally directed toward the vehicles to be oiled,springcon'trolled plungers reciprocating in said cylinders and providedat their front'ends with nipples adapted to co-operate with the hubs ofthe wheels of the'vehicles,

cylinders, and means for returning said cylinders to their normalpositions when the oiling of a pair of wheels has been effected,substantially as described.

2. ,Means for mechanically oiling the wheels of tramway and likevehicles constops for determining the normal positions of said sistingof fixed oil wells located one at each side of a track for the vehicles,plates closing the upper ends of said oil wells, pump cylinders mountedon said plates, formed with bosses having passages communicating withsaid cylinders, and secured in position by means of nuts engaging withsaid bosses, plungers fitting the front ends of said cylinders, formedwith cavities and with passages leading from said cavities to the frontends of the plungers, and provided at their rear ends with non-returnvalves, nipples at the front ends of said plungers communicating withthe passages leading from said cavities, dip tubes secured to the lowerends of the bosses formed on said cylinders, automatic valves fitted tothe lower ends of said dip tubes and to the upper ends of the passagesformed in the bosses of said cylinders, means for returning saidcylinders to their normal positions when displaced therefrom, and stopsfor determining the normal positions of said cylinders, substantially asdescribed.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification.

TOM ABBOTT.

